ROM Hack What would be the best tool to edit text in a previously-translated and patched ROM?

[testing123]

I have an .nds file here that was translated from Japanese to English via patch.

What would be the best current tool to make changes to the rom? Or, I suppose, going backwards and changing the patch is another option. Basically, I need to edit the English text inside the game for a different project.

Thanks in advance!

 

[RedL]

I have an .nds file here that was translated from Japanese to English via patch.

What would be the best current tool to make changes to the rom? Or, I suppose, going backwards and changing the patch is another option. Basically, I need to edit the English text inside the game for a different project.

Thanks in advance!

Patches work with bytes replacement, so that won't help you too much.

 

[testing123]

Patches work with bytes replacement, so that won't help you too much.

Ok, thanks for your reply. So I shouldn't bother with editing the patch. What would you recommend for txt editing in the .nds file?

 

[FAST6191]

Some older patch formats you can do things to but anything used on the DS is probably going to be far more complicated, not to mention patch formats only change things -- ... looks the same in most languages so it might not have been changed when 暗くて嵐の夜だった... became It was a dark and stormy night...

If the game has its own tools you might be able to use them here. Some ROMs use a common format like .bmg (or a simple format) which have some general purpose tools but this is rare.

As that is unlikely then you edit it the same way you would edit any other ROM -- basic things can be done with simple tools but keep track of everything manually (a very quick way to get very frustrated if you are doing more than very simple edits), you can go the path of the scripting tools (atlas and cartographer as well as oriton2 being choice terms here), you can fiddle with spreadsheets if you want or you can write your own tool to handle it.

Bonus here for you is you can get the original ROM and the translated ROM and whatever was changed between them is where the text is at, and probably some serious clues on how the formats work.

 

[RedL]

Ok, thanks for your reply. So I shouldn't bother with editing the patch. What would you recommend for txt editing in the .nds file?

First, unpack it (I'll let you search, there is a subject about it on this forum, I found it sometimes earlier), then look at each file and see if Kuriimu can open them.

Bonus here for you is you can get the original ROM and the translated ROM and whatever was changed between them is where the text is at, and probably some serious clues on how the formats work.

I second that. It's still gonna be hard, but using hex-diff between the two files will point you to what was changed, hoping the section sizes weren't too modified, or you'll have non-sensical diffs.

Actually, if you can unpack BOTH roms, you can make a file-by-file hex diff which will be easier to understand.